


The Uncomfortable Truth

by severed_lies



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-25
Updated: 2012-10-25
Packaged: 2017-11-17 00:23:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/545465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/severed_lies/pseuds/severed_lies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione Granger is searching for answers after the HalfBlood Prince is driven from Hogwarts. She may regret ever looking at that old Potions text.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Uncomfortable Truth

"Oh my god," Hermione kept repeating as she squirmed deeper into her chair. The mid-day light streamed through the mullioned windows.

Her dripping quill had left a sizable blotch of India ink on her parchment. The hands which gripped the worn school book were visibly sweaty. Hermione had worried her bottom lip bloody and she struggled against a mix of revulsion and curiosity.

As the summer before her seventh year at Hogwarts passed, she had been fervently searching for an explanation for the deception, the outrageous act, the betrayal of the one person whom she had come to count on as her rock. As usual, once she had calmed down and started to analyze the event, she plotted a course of research and would not be satisfied until she found the true motive for Professor Snape's reprehensible actions.

Once she returned from her obligatory two week stay with her parents, the library at Grimmauld Place had been searched and scoured for any clue as to the reason for the said betrayal. Hermione skipped meals and eschewed sleep in her quest to answer that burning question.

Exhausting the resources of the Black family library, she schemed to get access to the Ministry of Magic's archives. Mr. Weasley had obtained permission for one week's pass, with an escort, for the purpose of a wholly acceptable, but unrelated search. As all of the Order were in disparate stages of denial or outright rage, they paid little mind to Hermione's quest.

The archives proved no less helpful than anticipated. Desperate and out of ideas, Hermione remembered that book. That vile and now proven dangerous text. She tagged along with Professor McGonagall one afternoon, on the pretext of needing some books from the Hogwarts library for NEWT revision. As luck would have it, she was trusted to retrieve the materials on her own.

As the professor mounted the staircase to Dumbledore's office, Hermione doubled back to the Room of Requirement. It took a few tries to get the room to produce the tattered Sixth year potions text, the Property of the HBP.

After several hours of examining the book, looking at context instead of content, Hermione found an intriguing set of encounters described within. Her parchment was filled with lists, with names and covered in lines.

Evan Rosier --------- Astronomy Tower ------- lubricus trials

Bella Black ---------- Greenhouse #5 -------- mandrake abuse

Osmandius Sextant --------- Behind the Hogs Head -------- flagellation

Arugula Marchant --------- Trophy Room -------- humiliation via house elf

On and on, the list of encounters grew. Her over-stimulated mind succumbed to the absurd and she concluded that these were encounters of a sexual nature. She closed the book, noticing at last that the notes were becoming obscured by the dripping ink.

A quick spell eliminated the excess ink from the parchment, but nothing could get the images out of her mind. Eclipsing thoughts of his murderous transgression were visions of Professor Snape with parties of both sexes and deviant proclivities presented in his research notes. And this was only a list from a 10-month stretch out of his short life. What else had he gotten up too since adulthood?

"Who knew that he was a closet sex fiend?"


End file.
